She closed her heart long ago. He just wants to open her mind. For fans of Toni Aleo and Sawyer Bennett, the debut of Sophia Henry’s red-hot Detroit Pilots series introduces a hockey team full of complicated men who fight for love.
Auden Berezin is used to losing people: her father, her mother, her first love. Now, just when she believes those childhood wounds are finally healing, she loses something else: the soccer scholarship that was her ticket to college. Scrambling to earn tuition money, she’s relieved to find a gig translating for a Russian minor-league hockey player—until she realizes that he’s the same dangerously sexy jerk who propositioned her at the bar the night before.
Equal parts muscle and scar tissue, Aleksandr Varenkov knows about trauma. Maybe that’s what draws him to Auden. He also lost his family too young, and he channeled the pain into his passions: first hockey, then vodka and women. But all that seems to just melt away the instant he kisses Auden and feels a jolt of desire as sudden and surprising as a hard check on the ice.
After everything she’s been through, Auden can’t bring herself to trust any man, let alone a hot-headed puck jockey with a bad reputation. Aleksandr just hopes she’ll give him a chance—long enough to prove he’s finally met the one who makes him want to change.
Publication Date: September 1, 2015
Auden Berezin is used to losing people: her father, her mother, her first love. Now, just when she believes those childhood wounds are finally healing, she loses something else: the soccer scholarship that was her ticket to college. Scrambling to earn tuition money, she’s relieved to find a gig translating for a Russian minor-league hockey player—until she realizes that he’s the same dangerously sexy jerk who propositioned her at the bar the night before.
Equal parts muscle and scar tissue, Aleksandr Varenkov knows about trauma. Maybe that’s what draws him to Auden. He also lost his family too young, and he channeled the pain into his passions: first hockey, then vodka and women. But all that seems to just melt away the instant he kisses Auden and feels a jolt of desire as sudden and surprising as a hard check on the ice.
After everything she’s been through, Auden can’t bring herself to trust any man, let alone a hot-headed puck jockey with a bad reputation. Aleksandr just hopes she’ll give him a chance—long enough to prove he’s finally met the one who makes him want to change.
Publication Date: September 1, 2015
I really, really liked the premise of Delayed Penalty and I
thought the characters were fun. I also liked that the sole focus wasn’t on
just the romance between Auden and Alek. The novel is also about Auden trying
to find herself.
Auden and Alek were iffy for me at the start. Alek came off
as a jerk and I just didn’t feel a connection to Auden. I think her character
took some time to develop for me, but she did grow on me by the book’s end.
The pace was good and I liked that the author tried to show
the real issues that could be involved with dating a pro hockey player. The
time apart was helpful for Auden’s development, but I think it hurt the
chemistry between the hero and heroine. They never really clicked for me as a
couple.
Overall, I did like the book and I thoroughly enjoyed the
ending. There is a happily ever after and I liked that the book can be read as
a standalone. Fans of New Adult romances will likely enjoy Delayed Penalty.
Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
Thanks to the publisher for a copy for review!
I wonder if all romance novels have to have an HEA. Just my brain clicking. :) Great review, as always. Thanks so much for sharing :)
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